Award-winning science teacher makes students feel valued

Madeleine with a Green Bay High School student.

Over almost a quarter-century in teaching and education, Madeleine Collins has held many roles.

“I’ve gained a lot of experience of what science can look like at every level of our curriculum,” she says of her experience, spanning teaching in both primary and secondary schools, and even being a park ranger and a professional development facilitator.

Madeleine teaches chemistry and science at Auckland’s Green Bay High School, where she is also associate head of the science faculty.

“One of the big things in my teaching is to make sure that every student feels valued, that they know I truly care about them,” she says.

“Obviously, when I see 120 students a day come through my door, that can be tricky. But every single human is unique and special and has so much to offer. I think it’s really important that I reflect that in every interaction with my students as best I can.”

Madeleine’s favourite pedagogical strategy is the ‘5E’ instructional model: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate.

Finding motivation

Part of that is finding out what really motivates them.

One recent example involves a group of students who were very keen gym goers, often comparing their muscle gains – but they weren’t into chemistry.

Madeleine seized the opportunity, encouraging the students to look at the ingredients listed on the back of their nutritional supplements and connect them with what students were studying in class.

“They were hooked,” she says. “I don’t think I could have hooked them a different way, but they were into it. They were excited to understand what all the things on the back of their bottles meant.”

She was able to lead them through the necessary learning and internal assessment based on what was in those powders and supplements.

Wanting to know more

Madeleine’s favourite pedagogical strategy is the ‘5E’ instructional model: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate.

“The students work through these stages of the Es. Evaluate can come in at any time,” she explains.

“Engage gets our students hooked. They want to know more. Then they get an opportunity to explore something in detail. And only once they’ve really explored it and been captivated by it, then we try and explain it from a science point of view. So that means our students want to know more.

“They want to know why the crystal has burnt that colour or why the lichens outside have lots of heavy metals in them. They want to find out the reason for what they have just observed or noticed in class. And then they can even take that further to elaborate and evaluate their learning and figure out their next steps.”

Madeleine says this approach gives her students a sense of agency, and that the approach works just as well in curriculum-heavy senior classes as at earlier levels.

“I believe that science is enchanting and exciting and full of joy and should provoke curiosity. It’s all about the world around us.”

Incorporating te ao Māori values and mātauranga into her lessons is part of this approach.

“Te ao Māori is an essential part of our Aotearoa and teaching through that lens of mātauranga Māori is imperative,” she says. “It’s not just Western science that informs our knowledge of how the world works.

“The knowledge we build can come from multiple lenses and will lead us to a greater understanding of the natural world, which is essentially what science is.”

Madeleine encourages other science teachers to adopt hands-on learning approaches.

Hands-on approach to learning

Green Bay High School principal Fiona Barker says

she is really proud of the school’s science department, highlighting the great team spirit in the department and the ways in which teachers support each other to engage their students.

“Madeleine is a great part of the team. She’s someone who has got both passion for their subject, for science, and passion for our young people.

“She brings that magic every day, and our students get to benefit, and so do we all. One of the ways she does this is by collaborating with others to create real-life science partnerships.”

Fiona says that last year, some students went down to Dunedin to do some research around lichen. There, they worked with scientists from Otago University and geologists from GNS Science Te Pū Ao.

“It’s about creating opportunities where life and learning happens for our students in a really exciting context. That’s an amazing thing that she brings.”

In addition to her responsibilities at Green Bay High School, Madeleine has been a core facilitator at the Sir Paul Callaghan Science Academy at a national level for the past 12 years.

The academy is a four-day course that teachers of Years 0–10 can attend to learn about implementing a schoolwide hands-on science programme.

She has also been part of a team advising the Ministry of Education on changes to the science curriculum.

Madeleine’s message for her fellow science teachers is to be braver in adopting a hands-on learning approach.

“Often in science teaching, especially secondary science teaching, we’re stifled by requirements for assessment and for curriculum, and we forget to connect with the real world, the real world of science and nature outside – how everything works. Yet, when we actually step away from the classroom and that rigid content day after day, that’s when the real learning happens.

“It takes a lot of bravery to do that. It probably took me the best part of two decades of teaching to feel comfortable to do that.

“It would be great if we could all be brave as science teachers and step outside that content rigour and really explore that world around us.”

Madeleine with her Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize trophy.

Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize

Madeleine says she was humbled and excited to win the Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize, emphasising that her success is built on support from many people.

“Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini – Success is not the work of an individual, but the work of many,” she says.

In awarding the prize, the experts on the selection panel noted her enthusiasm, energy, and ability to tailor her teaching for each student.

“Student agency is a hallmark of her teaching. She clearly reads her learners and differentiates her teaching to meet them where they are,” stated the feedback.

She’s excited about the opportunities that the prize will give the students at Green Bay High School.

“They are fabulous students from a world of backgrounds who are really passionate learners and amazing individuals who don’t get, necessarily, a whole heap of opportunities.

“My plans are brewing for things I can do for them.”

For more information and to apply for the Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize, visit pmscienceprizes.org.nz(external link).